This invention relates generally to traffic delineators, and more particularly to a handle formed in the top of a blow-molded cylindrical or conical traffic delineator.
The development of plastic traffic delineators, such as plastic cylinders, cones and barrels, for directing and channeling traffic flows has significantly increased the safety of automotive transportation. If a wood or metal delineator is struck by an automobile, the occupants may be seriously injured and the automobile seriously damaged. If a car being channeled by a line of plastic cylindrical delineators strikes one of the plastic cylinders, the lightweight, collapsible delineator causes little damage to the vehicle, which reduces the risk of injury to the vehicle occupants. Plastic cylinders are also sufficiently resilient to withstand numerous hits from vehicles and not show significant wear.
Plastic cylindrical traffic delineators have many advantages, including relative ease of manufacturing, light weight, and easy storage because the cylinders have a relatively narrow diameter and thus do not require significant space. Plastic conical traffic delineators have the same advantages and can also be stacked for storage. These delineators may be made of numerous colors, but a bright xe2x80x9cflourescentxe2x80x9d orange has become common. Such coloration makes the cylinders more easily seen, day or night and in good or bad weather, than other colors.
For ease of manufacture and use, cylindrical and conical delineators are often made in two pieces, a blow-molded cylinder or cone over which a drop down base is placed. The cylinder or cone is usually a light-weight structure having a thin, plastic wall. The drop down base may be made of lightweight plastic, but is often made of heavy rubber. Sandbags or other ballasting materials may be used to increase the weight of the base and cylinder or cone combination.
Recently, manufacturers have included handles on the top of the cylindrical and conical delineators to make it easier to move the delineators. One such handle is that on the cylindrical delineator being sold by Bent Manufacturing company of Huntington Beach, Calif. That handle has a modified xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d shape, with the upper surface of the handle having an arcuate curvature to fit into human hands. Another cylindrical delineator having a handle on top is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,791 to Thurston, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by this reference. That patent depicts two handles, one being of a generally xe2x80x9cTxe2x80x9d shape and the other having an inverted xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shape. Yet another cylindrical delineator handle is that on the delineator being sold by Traffix Devices, Inc. of San Clemente, Calif. That handle is merely a reduction in the diameter of the cylinder, and then an abrupt enlargement of the diameter on the very top end of the cylinder, to form what may be termed as a xe2x80x9cbaseball batxe2x80x9d handle.
Existing handles formed on the top end of the cylinder have drawbacks. In particular, existing handles can be crushed when run over by an automobile. Generally, existing handles do not recover from such a crushing force, but rather are permanently deformed or require significant effort to push the plastic back into its original shape. Furthermore, existing handles are not as comfortable to hold as might be desired, and several of the prior handles do not accommodate attachment of a warning light or other marker to the top of the traffic delineator.
According to the present invention, handle for the top of a traffic delineator is provided that overcomes these and other drawbacks of the prior handles. A handle made according to the present invention is inexpensive to manufacture and incorporate into existing cylindrical or conical delineator designs. Thus, existing bases and molds may be used, with relatively minor modifications to incorporate the handle of the present invention.
The handle of the present invention includes a lower portion, and intermediate portion, and an upper portion. The lower portion seamlessly connects to the remainder of the delineator.
The intermediate portion is formed in the shape of a concave curve rotated about the axis of the cylindrical or conical delineator in such a fashion that the diameter of the intermediate portion gradually reduces from the lower end to the upper end. This shape renders the handle both very easily gripped by a human hand and also causes the handle to assume its original shape even after a crushing force such a car running over the handle.
The upper portion of the handle includes an extension beyond the reduced diameter of the intermediate section. This horizontal extension acts as a block to assist in holding the delineator by the intermediate portion. The extension may be similar to the T-shaped handles known in the art, or may be of the xe2x80x9cbaseball batxe2x80x9d shape.
The handle of the present invention may also include means for mounting a warning light to the top of the delineator. Thus, the present invention retains the advantages of prior delineator handles while providing additional advantages.